Summary
Nintendois home to some of themost beloved characters, series, and franchises in gaming,which is both enticing to longtime fans and newcomers. However, as with most games these days, some of their latest entries have lots to see and do in them, making them a pretty hefty undertaking if you want to complete them.
Fortunately, there are plenty of short and sweet Nintendo titles that you can get through in a single sitting, allowing you to experience that Nintendo magic without having to dedicate dozens to hundreds of hours of your time to see the game through to its end!
Pokémon Snapis one of the more unique games from the Nintendo 64’s library, offering a calm and scenic experience, as you traverse through several environments while on rails, taking pictures of Pokémon doing cute and bizarre things.
If you’re just looking to roll credits, you’re looking at roughly four hours of playtime, with an additional hour and a half tacked on if you want to see and do everything the game has to offer. It’s a very short and sweet experience that is worth having if you’re a fan of the franchise!
Of course, you’re able to’t discuss the best short games Nintendo has to offer without mentioningSuper Mario Bros.This platformer still holds up to this day with excellent level design, music, and a decent level of challenge to keep you locked in.
Beating all of Super Mario Bros will take about two hours total, and that’s not even factoring in the Warp Zones that can shave that number down quite considerably. It’s the best offering for anyone looking to pass the time and test their platforming skills!
A bit of a longer entry on this list isKirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, a Remake made for the Switch of the 2011 Wii title Kirby’s Return to Dream Land, offering more content and improved visuals, making it the definitive experience.
Gunning through the main storywill take about seven hours, making it an excellent game to put on and breeze through if you just want to roll its credits. And, if you enjoyed your time with it, you can always go back and tackle everything else; however, that will add around 18 hours of playtime!
Yoshi’s Storyis up next, a relatively divisive game, as many people would argue that it doesn’t hold up as well as some of Nintendo’s other titles from the Nintendo 64. However, we feel it’s still an excellent experience, as there is still nothing quite like its aesthetic, art style, and music.
Reaching the credits for this title will take about two hours, which is exceptionally short. Thankfully, if you want to do everything the game has to offer, you’re only adding eight hours, making it a ten-hour experience total. Perfect!
WarioWareis a highly popular series with numerous entries, each offering short microgames that exude charm and oddness. And,while it can be argued which one is the best,we love what WarioWare: D.I.Y. offers the most.
It strikes a perfect balance, offering a short and breezy main campaign that spans around three hours, making it tremendous for jumping in and having a blast. If you stop and tackle some side content in between, you’re looking at ten hours, with a whopping 30+ hours if you want to 100 percent it!
Following that isDonkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, one of the best platformers on the SNES that only takes roughly five hours to complete, taking on an additional five hours if you want to do everything the game has to offer.
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Questexcels at nearly everything,from its level and enemy design to its art direction and killer soundtrack, and everything in between. If you have some time to kill and have never experienced this masterpiece, fix that as soon as possible!
Launching alongside the Nintendo GameCube was Luigi’s first mainline title in the series, withLuigi’s Mansion, having him sheepishly navigate through a haunted mansion in search of his brother Mario, who you may have heard of.
Sucking up the main ghostsand beating the game will take around seven hours, tacking on an additional hour or so to finish the rest of the offerings in the game, making it the perfect way to spend a rainy day if you have time to spare!
Lastly, we haveSuper Metroid, whichremains one of the best Metroidvania titles ever created.Its level design is top-tier and constantly gives you new areas that look foreboding yet stunning. The enemy design and combat are also excellent, making exploration feel incredibly rewarding.
Super Metroid is only an eight-hour experience if you’re rolling through the critical path, with an additional hour to an hour and a half if you want to do everything in the game, making it completely doable in one sitting. If Super Metroid is still in your backlog, we urge you to fix that immediately!
